WASHINGTON–The Supreme Court has put the kibosh on some of the Trump administration’s across-the-board efforts to cut all foreign aid, a ruling that should affect at least some of the projects with which the World Council of Credit Unions has been working.

By a 5-to-4 vote, the justices left in place a lower court order that required the Trump administration to pay contractors for foreign aid work that has already been completed, which represents approximately $2 billion in spending. 

“World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) applauds the Supreme Court’s March 5 ruling and looks forward to seeing the district court approve a timeline for payments that results in the quick and orderly distribution of funds for work done prior to the freeze on aid,” said WOCCU President and CEO Elissa McCarter LaBorde in a statement.

Half of Staff Let Go

As reported earlier, the freeze of USAID funding resulted in WOCCU being forced to let go half of its employees. More than 10,000 USAID employees overall have been let go globally. 

The new Supreme Court decision was filed two weeks ago when  two major foreign aid contractors — the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and the Global Health Council —challenged the Trump administration’s cutoff of funds at USAID and the State Department.

Federal Judge Amir Ali issued a temporary restraining order to allow the continuation of foreign aid funding while he examined the issues in the case.

Contempt Order Sought

Six days later, the Coalition plaintiffs returned to  went court seeking a contempt order for the administration’s alleged failure to comply, with Judge Ali then ordering the government to immediately pay its foreign aid contractors for work already done. The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court to intervene, but the court refused to do that, at least for now.